Monday, October 20, 2008

While an exposition for businesses of all kinds under the green or organic umbrella, the Big Green Expo in Orlando brought us a wide variety of products and services.

I was pleasantly surprised to have the opportunity to check out a traditionally sized electric car, talk solar options with various vendors, hear more about the positive effects of alkalinized water on our bodies, visit with the animals at Critter Encounters, and collect information on a multitude of green topics, products and services. I was especially pleased to find booths with various local organic, all-natural and holistic pet products and services, and excited to come home with a bundle of samples to try out on my furry friends. My pups particularly enjoyed an afternoon snack of Canine Caviar (cool name, huh?!), provided by Pookie's Pet Nutrition and Bow Wow Bakery.

I had a nice conversation with DeVonna Craner, a new business owner, who was there to promote recycling in a fun way. You can visit her at Hot Chicks Recycle. Kudos to DeVonna's daughters, who were instrumental in conceptualizing and planning their business idea--Make Recycling More Fun--and don't worry guys, you weren't left out; they have stuff for you too!

The Big Green Expo is an event sponsored by the Not for profit Harvest For Life program, whose goal is to heighten awareness, serve as a resource and promote projects and services that serve the community to sustain our planet. In addition to Big Green Expos, they also sponsor job fairs and provided a printed job resource guide inside their Calendar of Events for the Expo.

During the two full days of Expo weekend, well over a hundred organizations touted their offerings while live music alternated with speakers, whose topics included sustainability, eating vegetarian, eating according to the seasons, and a definition of "Green", a nice touch to help define the goal of the whole event. Upcoming Big Green Expo events are scheduled in Jacksonville, Florida for January 8, and in Tampa, Florida for March 14. At the door, entrance to the Orlando show was $10; however a $5 coupon is available on their website, as well as in their advertisements in various publications such as Orlando Woman. The expo in Orlando was well worth the $5, as you could easily spend the entire day exploring their many green options.